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  1. #1
    Mighty Member Hybrid's Avatar
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    Default What are Spider-Man's best MU appearances outside the Spider-titles?

    Kind of a sequel to the thread asking about Spider-Man's best portrayal outside 616. What would you say are the best Spider-Man appearances outside the Spider-Man books?

    As in, no Amazing/Spectacular/Friendly Neighborhood etc., no Spider-focused events, no adjacent titles like Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen or what not. What is allowed are:
    • Other ongoings in Marvel.
    • Team appearances.
    • Guest appearances.
    • Line-wide events.

    It was inspired by the general idea that Spider-Man is best in his own corner, and on teams like the Avengers he's just gets reduced to the "funny guy". I have to admit, I do get worried about how Spider-Man gets written outside his own stories, especially by people who don't actively write him, but I think it's a disservice to not acknowledge the times he is written well in these cases.

    I'll begin with something easy:



    Secret Wars

    Honestly, I think one of the best things about Secret Wars and why it's held in such high regard, even serving as a gateway to the Marvel Universe as a whole, is that everyone in the event is properly represented. There wasn't any favorites played with any of the heroes, and there were many: You had the Avengers (consisting of Captain America, James Rhodes as Iron Man, the Wasp, Hawkeye, Thor, She-Hulk, and Monica Rambeau as Captain Marvel), The X-Men (Wolverine, Cyclops, Colossus, Rogue, Storm, Nightcrawler, Professor X, and Lockheed the Dragon), the Fantastic Four (minus Sue), and independents like Hulk, Magneto, and of course, Spider-Man.

    Spidey got written as well here as he does in his own books, like when he fought off the X-Men (Professor X had to "cheat" and erase his memories), and later beat up Titania, who earlier had beaten the crap out of She-Hulk. It's one of my favorite instances of using skill to beat might:




    I believe Secret Wars has something that many future events lack: fairness. What many line-wide events suffer from is that someone is being favored over another, whether it's the X-Men during their peak, the Avengers today, or on an individual level (remember when Millar said that Iron Man was definitively right about Civil War?). It helps that it was written by EiC Jim Shooter, and I think he was a good medium because he went in neutrally. If Chris Claremont wrote it, it'd be an X-Men event with the rest as secondary characters. If John Byrne wrote it, the X-Men would get shafted to only getting a mandatory line. If Roger Stern wrote it, then the Avengers would get the spotlight, and maybe Spider-Man would get some as well. Regardless of talent, the fact is the writers are going to favor characters they're more closely familiar with.

    So it's easy to rank Secret Wars as being among Spidey's best appearances outside his own titles, because everyone was written with consistency across the board.

    Any other examples to note?

  2. #2
    Mighty Member Spider-Chan's Avatar
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    Civil War, maybe, albeit most of the best stuff happened within the pages of TASM.

    I also loved his time during the FF, but what's not to love about Hickman's F4/FF?

  3. #3
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    Yeah, Secret Wars is easily Spider-Man's most impressive showing.

    Other ones I like:
    -- "Going Underground" Wolverine #156, where Spider-Man teams up with Wolvie and comes across the Mole Man in search of a runaway mutant.
    -- Spider-Man's appearance in some recent issues of Zdarsky's run on Daredevil.
    -- Silver Surfer: Requiem #2 by JMS
    -- Matt Fraction's Invicible Iron Man #500 (the only other time Fraction wrote Peter)
    -- Hickman's run also did Spider-Man well, with that story "Uncles" having Peter console Franklin about Johnny's "death" and then of course you have "The Roommate Experiment" in FF#17 which is hilarious.

  4. #4
    Ultimate Member WebLurker's Avatar
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    Always liked Spidey's guest-spot in Ultimate X-Men's "Block Buster" story arc. Ulitmate Power gave him some good moments (even if his presence in that story makes zero sense in context of the main Ultimate Spider-Man series).

    (If Ultimate doesn't count, then sue me.)
    Doctor Strange: "You are the right person to replace Logan."
    X-23: "I know there are people who disapprove... Guys on the Internet mainly."
    (All-New Wolverine #4)

  5. #5
    The Spirits of Vengeance K7P5V's Avatar
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    Definitely this one:

  6. #6
    Loony Scott Taylor's Avatar
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    Remember when John Romita drew an issue of Daredevil? Stan Lee was a master at cross-promotion, but this was a pretty good story. A bunch of imitation Daredevils are rampaging across the City

    Every day is a gift, not a given right.

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